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Posting this on Instagram can hurt your relationships

A new study says that romantic relationships and friendships alike are at stake when you post selfies on Instagram.
- photo by Herb Scribner

A selfie is a pretty simple photo: Its you, standing alone, taking a photo.

Take too many, though, and that may be the only photo you take in the future.

This is according to a new study out of Florida State University, which found that the number of selfies you post on Instagram may affect your friendships and romantic relationships. Specifically, the way you feel about your Instagram selfie could impact your satisfaction, but also how you treat your friends.

The study, which looked at about 420 Instagram accounts for people ages 18 to 62 and how many selfies they took, found that people who responded well to their selfies were often satisfied. But those who responded negatively to their selfie felt less satisfied and had an increased chance of Instagram-related conflict, Fusion reported.

That conflict could really hurt your close relationships, as the study found that too much Instagram conflict led to increase relationship issues among couples and friends, Fusion reported.

The moral of the story? Do yourself a favor, put black tape over your front facing camera, and resist the urge to snap a selfie, Fusion explained. Youll thank yourself later.

This isnt the first time that selfies have been linked to causing relationship strife. A 2013 study from the U.K. found that people who post selfies on Facebook are often seen as less intimate by people in their network. That is to say, those people have more shallow relationships and friendships, Time magazine reported.

That study, done by the University of Birmingham, the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University, looked at 508 Facebook users who were on average 24 years old. The researchers asked the users to rank their emotional support for their friends, relatives, romantic partners and co-workers, and then compared their answers to how often they took selfies.

But the news wasnt all bad, Time reported. Too many selfies didnt matter for best friends, who said they actually liked seeing their friends post selfies on social media.

Thats why it may be a better practice to leave the selfies off Facebook and post them somewhere else.

Dont want to seem superficial but just cant break the selfie habit? The answer might be as simple as using a photo-messaging app, such as Snapchat, to give your best friends their selfie fix while keeping everyone else blissfully unaware, Time reported.